It would seem as there is no longer a south west development officer to organise things like fixtures etc and there has been no corespondence from the RFL to clubs on this, its all going to be left to the clubs. I know that the West of England league will not be organised by the RFL but will still exsist in some form.

I wonder how much of this is down to losing 700k on the Crusaders fiasco.

It's down to the Sport England cuts. We don't yet know what effect this will have on the midlands. The worst case scenario is the likes of me, Tim etc running the whole league as volunteers. There have been large gains with the staff team in place IMO.

The effects of lack of funding for travel in the Conference South is already being seen.

West of England should be fine as there are 2 Championship 1 clubs in the area. The question is would they open up to clubs from the SW and South Wales if those leagues fold or would it put too much pressure on existing clubs?

It would seem as there is no longer a south west development officer to organise things like fixtures etc and there has been no corespondence from the RFL to clubs on this, its all going to be left to the clubs. I know that the West of England league will not be organised by the RFL but will still exsist in some form.

This is not true. South West clubs were invited to a meeting in September to discuss 2013. Only two clubs responded, so the meeting was postponed to the new year.

The West Of England league will continue to be an RFL league and, like the other regional leagues, will involve the local RL community in its management and steering.

Going by the Plymouth titans Facebook group, they are gearing up for the season, sorting out registration, training starting in April.

PROUD TO BE A MEMBER OF http://www.rugbyleaguecares.org/ and http://www.walesrugb...-wales-for-2013Predictions for the future -Crusaders RL to get a franchise for 2012 onwards -WRONGWidnes Vikings also to get a franchise - RIGHTCrusaders RL to do the double over Widnes and finish five places ahead of them -WRONGWidnes Vikings NOT to dominate rugby league in years to come! STILL TO COME

It would seem as there is no longer a south west development officer to organise things like fixtures etc and there has been no corespondence from the RFL to clubs on this, its all going to be left to the clubs. I know that the West of England league will not be organised by the RFL but will still exsist in some form.

This is not true. South West clubs were invited to a meeting in September to discuss 2013. Only two clubs responded, so the meeting was postponed to the new year.

The West Of England league will continue to be an RFL league and, like the other regional leagues, will involve the local RL community in its management and steering.

Left for dead or even worse in some eyes run like a BARLA league.

Carlsberg don't do Soldiers, but if they did, they would probably be Brits.

The fact is, having a dedicated resource is a lot of money to spend on clubs that play a very short season.The South West division wasn't significantly worse when it was run centrally as part of the RLC.

The South West Rugby League will still be running, and will be operated by the clubs ourselves. I founded, and still help Devon Sharks and we have worked to hard to let it die. Let me assure you we are here, and intend to be for a long time to come. At Sharks we have more sponsors coming in than ever before, and all are local to us. We have entered into a partnership with Prostate Cancer UK, where we have given them the front of our shirts for the next two years for free. We will also run fundraising events for the charity, not all of which will be rugby based. Our aim is to ingrain into our community, and that means appealing to a wider audience.

To keep up with Sharks, or the South West league community check out....

PROUD TO BE A MEMBER OF http://www.rugbyleaguecares.org/ and http://www.walesrugb...-wales-for-2013Predictions for the future -Crusaders RL to get a franchise for 2012 onwards -WRONGWidnes Vikings also to get a franchise - RIGHTCrusaders RL to do the double over Widnes and finish five places ahead of them -WRONGWidnes Vikings NOT to dominate rugby league in years to come! STILL TO COME

Looks like a Cornish team at last as well as the return of the Cornwall vs Devon game - greatest rivalry in rugby league! The only true derby!

PROUD TO BE A MEMBER OF http://www.rugbyleaguecares.org/ and http://www.walesrugb...-wales-for-2013Predictions for the future -Crusaders RL to get a franchise for 2012 onwards -WRONGWidnes Vikings also to get a franchise - RIGHTCrusaders RL to do the double over Widnes and finish five places ahead of them -WRONGWidnes Vikings NOT to dominate rugby league in years to come! STILL TO COME